Monday, August 29, 2005

Commuter Bus Accessibility Settlement in Colorado

All buses in a southern Front Range commuter service will be made wheelchair-accessible to settle a lawsuit filed by an advocacy group.Colorado Springs city officials also agreed to pay $100,000 in legal fees to the Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition.

The coalition's lawsuit accused FREX of discrimination because not all the buses could accommodate wheelchairs.

The city maintained FREX complied with federal laws because the Federal Transit Authority had designated it a "demand-response" service with no fixed route. Such services do not have to provide wheelchair access.

The Cross-Disability Coalition argued the service is a "fixed-route system" required to offer wheelchair access on all buses.